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My Fair Maid-y
My Fair Maid-y is the 12th episode of the first season. Grace gets help designing from the cleaning maid. Jack pretends to be a successful lawyer with Will as his assistant. Synopsis A Spoonful of Whoop-ass Grace is stressed out preparing for the annual Sublime Design Showcase that she leaves the apartment in disarray so Will calls in a maid, April, to clean up after her. Grace finds April's aggressive way of encouraging effective and soon becomes hopelessly dependent on her for inspiration. Noting that Grace is becoming ridiculous for relying too much on the maid, Will pays April not to show up so Grace can realize the designs she had made on her own are actually really good. McLiar In order to impress Alex, a graduate student he had started dating, Jack poses as a lawyer using Will's office. When he is finally about to come clean, Alex breaks up with him, saying Jack deserves someone as successful as he is. Cast Main * Eric McCormack (Will Truman) * Debra Messing (Grace Adler) * Sean Hayes (Jack McFarland) * Megan Mullally (Karen Walker) * Gary Grubbs (Harlin Polk) Guest * Wendie Jo Sperber (April) * Raphael Sbarge (Alex) * Burt Goodman (Design Critic) Notes * Title is a reference to the musical My Fair Lady, which starred Julie Andrews during the original production. When April shouts at Grace to give believe in herself, she mentions Mary Poppins, which also starred Andrews in the 1964 film. Cultural references * When Jack sees Will's dirty apartment, he exclaims "Holy dirty apartment, Fatman!", after the popular catchphrase uttered by Robin in the 60s Batman TV series, but instead used Fatman to make fun of Will. As they enter, the two sing the theme from the sitcom Sanford and Son (including Fred Sanford's catchphrase "Shut up, dummy!"), referencing the Sanfords' messy apartment. * After Grace fumbles for words and breaks down about the design showcase, Jack jokes that it is going to be "another disappointing year for La Lucci", a reference to All My Children actress Susan Lucci who had gained infamy for being nominated but never winning an Emmy Award. Lucci eventually won later that year on her 19th consecutive nomination. Will and Grace previously talked about Susan Lucci in the episode Head Case. * Grace mentions designing a meditation room that "can move the Dalai Lama to bitch-slap Richard Gere". Gere is an active supporter of the Dalai Lama. * When April says that her mother used to scream at her for encouragement, Grace rhetorically asks if her mother was not stand-up comedian Sam Kinison, known for his signature screaming. * After April's harsh words of encouragement, Grace points out Mary Poppins got the same message across in a nice little musical number, referencing the song A Spoonful of Sugar from the musical where Mary Poppins encourages the children to do their chores and have fun while doing so. * When Grace claims she could not work without the maid, Will refers to her condition as the "Hazel syndrome", after the titular maid character in the 60s sitcom. During the same conversation Will rhetorically asks "Did Mr. Brady ask Alice about architecture?", after characters from The Brady Brunch, Mr. Brady being the family patriarch working as an architect and Alice being the family maid. * When Karen cautions April about abusing Grace, she tells her she had seen All About Eve (1950), a film about a seemingly devoted fan who plots to replace an actress played by Bette Davis, whom she claims to idolize. Karen also does an impression of Davis. * Will jokes that Grace is the Dr. Doolittle of furniture, after seeing her talking to pillows, a reference to the titular character in the film Dr. Doolittle (1998) who can talk to animals. Quotes Category:Episodes Category:Season 1